Urban Austerity

What started as a mortgage crisis in 2007 and became a global financial and economic crisis in 2008, has transformed into a sovereign debt crisis since 2010. Throughout, cities all over Europe have been at the heart of the turmoil in multiple ways: indebted homeowners have been evicted, masses impoverished, public budgets tightened, municipal infrastructures privatized, and public services downsized. In short, austerity measures have been implemented.



In view of the above, this book focuses on an issue that affects most people living in urban regions across Europe: the idea that fiscal austerity is a necessity that politics cannot avoid, no matter how harsh the consequences might be. To bring the effects of austerity politics to the forefront, the authors of this book expose actual urban problems in their spatiotemporal dimensions, discuss regulatory restructurings under a new regime of austerity urbanism, and reflect on the role of urban social movements struggling for progressive alternatives.



Barbara Schönig is Professor for Urban Planning and Director of the Institute for European Urban Studies at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Germany.

Sebastian Schipper, PhD, is a researcher at the Department for Human Geography, Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main, Germany.



Sebastian Schipper is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department for Human Geography, Goethe-University Frankfurt. His research interests include neoliberalization processes, the political economy of housing and gentrification, urban social movements, and critical urban studies in general. Email: s.schipper@geo.uni-frankfurt.de



Introduction



Impacts of the Global Financial Crisis on Cities in Europe

An Introduction to Urban Austerity von Barbara Schönig und Sebastian Schipper / Seite 7





Urban governance in times of austerity



Financializing the Entrepreneurial City von Jamie Peck und Heather Whiteside / Seite 21

The (Post)politics of Fiscal Retrenchment Managing Cities and People in a Context of Austerity Urbanism von Joe Penny / Seite 40

Social Impact Bonds: A "Social Neoliberal" Response to the Crisis? von Robert Ogman / Seite 58

Urban Politics towards a New Paradigm? Reflections on the Crisis-driven Regulatory Reforms in Greece von Thanos Andritsos und Dimitris Poulios / Seite 70





Urban infrastructure and public services Extracting Value from the Public City



Urban Strategies and the State-market Mix in the Disposal of Municipal Assets

von Elena Besussi / Seite 89

Who governs? Struggles over Public-landed Property Policy in Berlin under (a not so new) Austerity Regime von Katja Thiele / Seite 103

Value Capture as a Tool to Finance Urban Transportation Infrastructure in the Era of Crisis von Anastasia Roukouni und Basil Stefanis/ Seite 117

From Austerity to Self-organization - The Changing Landscape of Social Services and Infrastructures in Rome von Daniela Patti und Levente Polyak / Seite 128



Housing crisis



Changes in Housing and Property under the Austerity Regime in Greece Challenges for Movements and the Left von Dimitra Siatitsa / Seite 145

A New Socio-spatial Order in Crisis-stricken Greece - The Housing Crisis and the (In)visibility of the New Marginals von Matina Kapsali und Maria Karagianni/ Seite 161

Financialization of Rental Mass Housing in Germany - Understanding the Transaction Cycles in the Mass Rental Housing Sector 1999–2015 von Knut Unger / Seite 176

Moving to Berlin from the European South - Post-crisis Mobility Patterns and Uneven Development in the EU von Stefania Animento / Seite 176

Geographic Analysis of Evictions in Spain von Ícaro Obeso Muñiz / Seite 207





Urban conflicts and contestations



Urban Social Movements in Times of Austerity Politics von Margit Mayer / Seite 219

Crisis and the City: Producing Space on Both Sides of the Barricade in Athens' City Center von Daniel Mullis / Seite 242

Tales of Crisis from the Walls of Athens - An Exploration of Urban Austerity through the Cultural Practice of Street Art von Julia Tulke / Seite 257

Shades of (In)justice - The Right to the City and the Right to the Housing in Sant'Elia, Cagliari von Silvia Aru und Matteo Puttilli/ Seite 271





Appendix



Short bios of all authors / Seite 287

Imprint / Seite 294